A Third Culture Mom Raising A Third Culture Kid in Bangkok
Kiaan is growing up and getting smarter faster than I wish to admit. He’s no longer a baby; he’s a little boy and becoming very aware of the world around him. I was observing him one day and noticed how quickly he is picking up words and concepts and repeating them back.
I used the Hindi word “khaana” which means food whenever I want to instruct Milo to eat and suddenly one day I hear a tiny voice echo “khaana” behind me. It was Kiaan pointing at Milo’s food bowl and proudly telling me that he knows this is where Milo eats his food. This little incident got me reflecting on how and what languages I use to communicate with both Kiaan and Milo and to no surprise it’s a lot of English sprinkled with little bits of Hindi. Even though I am Indian, English is my native language because I grew up as a ‘third culture kid’ — a child who grows up in a place or places that is not their parent’s homeland. In my case, my parents’ homeland is India but they relocated to Bangkok and I grew up here. And now I’m raising my son in Bangkok — he’s the (somewhat) third culture kid of a third culture kid!
Growing up as a third culture kid is interesting because I feel like I belong everywhere and nowhere at the same time. I have a pretty strong American accent but clearly look Indian and can speak some Thai, so when I’m asked the million baht question by new acquaintances “Where are you from?”, my response has several parts and sounds more like a justification for why I am the way I am: “I’m Indian but I grew up in Bangkok and went to international school there and then completed my higher studies in the US.” But in all honesty, being a third culture kid has given me the opportunity to connect with people from all over the world, to see the importance of being open-minded, and to be resilient.
Home will always be Bangkok because it’s where I have spent my whole life except for the few years I spent studying abroad but living in Thailand does not define my cultural identity. I imbibe different parts of the cultural values of each of the countries — Thailand, India and USA — that have contributed to my third culture life and it’s something I’m truly grateful for because it’s a unique way to grow up. And now I’m a third culture mom raising a (somewhat) third culture kid. If my sense of culture and identity is so blended and borderless, I wonder what kind of impact that will have on Kiaan?